Method and apparatus for lasting and rough rounding stitch-down shoes



April 14, 1,931. 7 P. w. VALENTINE METHOD AND APPARATUS FORLAS'I'ING'AND SHOES ITCH-DOWN 1a,. 1928 ROUGH ROUNDING ST Filed Nov.

Patented Apr. 14, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PERCY W. VALENTINE,OI NATICK, MASSACHUSETTS *METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LASTING AND ROUGHBOUNDING STITCH-DOWN SHOES Application filed November 16, 1928. SerialNo. 319,898.

The present invention relates to the art of shoe making and isparticularly concerned with the step of pulling the upper around thelast and stitching the outturned u per to an inner or intermediate sole.Its 0 wet is to combine with the lasting ,and stitching step, a furtherstep which has heretofore always been performed separately at a laterstage in the making of the shoe; that is, the

step of rough rounding the sole'and trimming the edges of the upperwherever they extend beyond the intended outlines of the rough roundedsole.

Heretofore in the making of stitch-down shoes, the practice has been torou h round or trim the sole after the upper as been lasted and stitchedto the sole. In cases where the shoe is. made with both an inner and anouter sole, or inner, middle and outer soles, the practice has been todefer the rough rounding or trimming step until the outer sole has beensecured to the shoe, then to rough round all the soles and trim theupper in one operation and afterwards shave the sole to its finalfinished dimensions.

In carrying out my present object, I make use of a machine having meansfor both pulling down the up er around the last and stitching it to theinnersole, and provide the machine with a knife situated at'such adistance from the awl or needle of the machine and in such a locationthat it cuts off the outstandin edges of the innersole and upper whilethe connecting seam is being sewed. The invention consists both in thecombined operation of lasting, stitching and rough rounding, and in themeans by which such operation is erformed, said means compr1sing the comination of a presser or puller stitch forming means or a piercing tool,an a knife or cutter, substantially as hereinafter described and pointedout in the appended claims.

In the drawings illustrating the invention',

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation of so much of a. lasting and sewingmachine equipped with a trimmer in accordance with 'inyinvention' as isnecessary to illustrate the invention;

. parts which directly engage and act on the Fig. 2 is a fragmentarysectional view on a larger scale of the parts which directly cooperatewith the shoe;

Fig. 3 is a similar View showing the operating parts in differentpositions;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the same parts, omitting the needle;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing a slight modification in theform of the work support and lasting presser;

Fig. 6 is an elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 5, as viewed from theleft of said figure; the line 5-5 on Fig. 6 indicating the plane onwhich the section shown in Fi 5 is taken;

ig. 7 is a perspective view of a fragment of a stitch-down shoeillustrating the result of In new process and apparatus.

Li e reference characters designate the same parts in all the figures.

The particular embodiment of the invention'herein illustrated has beenapplied to a sewin machine of known character, wherefore have shown onlythe instruments and shoe, omitting illustration and description of themechanisms by which these parts are operated in their proper sequence.The in formation of those skillet in the art of sewing machineconstruction and use is sufiicient to enable such persons to perform,construct and use the present invention from the description andillustration herein furnished.

In Fig. 1, the part 11' designates an upright rising from the base ofthe sewing machine on which is mounted a work support 12 and in whichthere is a guide 13 for a needle bar 14 carrying'a needle 15. 16 is anoverhanging arm carrying a head 17 in which is reciprocatively mountedan awlbar 18 carrying an awl 19, and the shank 20 of a presser 21. Theparticular machine thus illustrated is one which forms a chain stitchseam from a single thread. The awl pierces the work, the needle risesthrough the holes so pierced, receiving the thread in itshook andpulling it through the work, and the work 1s fed in a known manner.Other instruments, not shown because unnecessary for the information ofthose skilled in the art, form the loops in the thread necessary tosecure the stitches and tighten the stitches.

The wor ,a shoe to be lasted, comprises a last 22, to the bottom ofwhich an innersole 23 has been temporarily attached, and over which ashoe upper 2d has been placed. It is applied to the work support withthe bottom of the innersole bearing on the serrated inclined surface 25of the latter, and the flange 23a of the innersole and outturned edge24a of the upper overlying the top of the work support and extendingacross the passage 26 in the latter through which the awl and needle areadapted to pass. The presser 21 is advanced toward the work support andin doing so it engages the edge part of the upper, pressing this partaga nst the flange of the sole and pulling the upper around the last andtucking it into the angle between the side of the last and theprojecting flange of the upper. By arranging the surface 25 of the worksupport at an inclination, the presser is enabled to pull the upperclosely around the last and into the angle.

While the presser clamps the upper and innersoleaglainst the worksupport, as shown in Fig. 3, t e awl advances into the passage 26 andwithdraws, and the needle advances and withdraws in turn, forming thestitch.

A. knife. 27 is secured by a clamp 28 to the awl bar beside the awl.Such knife has a wide end with a cutting edge, its width at the endbeing at least as great as the feed of the work between stitches, sothat the cuts which it makes on successive advances are joined together.It advances with the awl and passes into an opening or passageway 29 inthe top of the work support, cutting off those parts of the sole andupper which extend across its path. Its distance from the awl is equalto the greatest width of th v desi ed extension of the sole beyond thestitc es of the attaching seam.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that, as the upper ispulled about the last and stitched to the innersole, the extension edgesof both the sole and the upper are trimmed off, the successive incisionsof the knife making a continuous out which severe the surplus material,as indicated by Fig. 7, which shows the cut at 30 and the I severedscrap at 31. Thus the shoe is trimmed or rough rounded throughout thefull extent of the attaching seam. In some styles of shoe, the lasting,trimming and rounding are carried out around the heel part as well asthe fore part, while in others this oper ation extends around the shankand fore part only, the edges of the upper at the heel art being turnedin under the heel seat. In 0th cases, however, the combined operation ascarried out according to this invention is the same.

In Figs. l4 inclusive the top surface of the work support is shown asbeing horizontal,

mo es? that is, perpendicular to the paths in which the awl and roundingknife travel. With this arrangement the trimmed edges are square withthe bottom of the innersole. It is not essential, however, that theedges should be trimmed off square, -particularly in the case of shoeshaving innersoles made of thin stock. In such cases the top of the worksupport may be inclined, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, either at the sameangle as the face 25 or at a different angle, the presser 21a beingsimilarly inclined.

After completion of the step just described, an outer sole is applied tothe bottom of the lasted shoe and the shoe is then completed in theordinary way, or otherwise as desired; with this important exce tion,however, that the usual step of roug 1 rounding after applying the outersole is omitted.

The invention thus described is useful and valuable by reason ofeffecting important savings as follows:

First, it eliminates the stepof rough rounding as a separate operation,thus saving the cost of rough rounding machines and of theirmaintenance, and saving the time and expense of performing thisoperation.

Second, it enables the outer soles to be cut more nearly than heretoforeto finished size, since they may be made of approximately the form anddimensions of the trimmed innersole without the excess width and lengthof sewing machine as the basis of an apparatus for carrying out myinvention is not intended as a limitation of the invention to a machineof that type only. trary, the method and means of lasting, stitching andrough rounding here described may be carried out in connection withmachines adapted to form stitches by other means and of other ty e. Y

I n this specification the term innersole is intended to include notonly a single innersole but both an inner and an intermediate sole,where such is used, and is stitched with the innersole to the upper.That is, this term includes all the soles other than the outersole whichmay be united to the upper independently of the outers'ole.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1. The method ofshoe making which consists inlasting an outturned u per and stitching aninnersole theretowit simultaneous rough rounding of'the innersole;

On the con-- types than the chain I 2. In the manufacture of stitch-downshoes, simultaneously lasting a shoe, stitching the upper and innersoletogether and trimming the innersole to rough rounded dimensions.

3. In the manufacture of stitch-down shoes, simultaneousl lasting theupper, stitching an innersole t ereto and trimming the innersole, andsubsequently applying an outer sole having substantially the samedimensions as the innersole thus trimmed.

4. In the manufacture of stitch-down shoes, the method which consists inplacing an innersole' on the bottom of the last with extension edgesprotruding from the edges of the last bottom, pulling an upper over thelast, and tucking the upper into the angle between the side of the lastand the sole extension in such manner that the edge part of the upper isturned outward, and at the same'time stitching the outturned upper andinnersole extension together and trimming the edge parts of the upperand innersole to substantially rough rounded dimensions.

5. In the manufacture of stitch-down shoes,- the method which consists'in applying an innersole to the bottom ofa last with its edgesextending beyond the edges of the last bottom, placing an upper over thelast, progressively tucking the upper along a line thereof inward fromits edge into the angle between the side of the last and the extensionof the innersole, throughout the circuit of at least the forepart of theshoe, so that the edge portion of the upper is thereby laid against theinnersole extension, and simultaneously and progressively stitching theextensions of the upper and mnersole together and trimming off the edgesof such extensions to substantially rough rounded dimensions.

tween the side of a last over which the upper is placed and theprojecting margin of a sole ap lied-to the bottomof such last, means formargin of a stitch-down shoe and the flange part of the sole of suchshoe and to trim the edge of such sole, of a work support and a lastinpresser cooperating to tuck the upper of a 510a in process of lastingbetween the side of the last and the flange of the sole, and arranged tosupport the sole flange against the thrust of the trimming knife.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

' PERCY W. VALENTINE.

6. A machine for lasting, stitching and trimming stitch-down shoescomprising pressing, piercing and stitch forming instrumentalities, anda cutter connected to one of said instrumentalities for cutting off theoutstanding edge of the innersole during the lasting and stitchingoperation.

. An apparatus for use in the performance of the within described methodcomprisin a work support adapted to support the sole, 1ncluding themarginal portion thereof, of a shoe in process of being lasted, pressingmeans movable toward and away from said. work support in position topress the upper of a shoe into the angle between the side of a last andthe margin of the sole, stitchforming means arranged to form stitchesuniting the marginal part of the sole to the outturned margin of theupper, and a cutterarranged to operate between the boundaries of saidwork support for trimming the sole to rough rounded dimensions.

8. A machine for lasting, stitching and rough roundin the sole of astitch-down shoe comprising a asting presser arranged and operable totuck the upper into the angle be-

